Seat mat



27, 1934- F. K. HOLMESTED Q 1,982,516

SEAT MAT Filed July 12, 1933 FIFF/VC/SKZEQLMES 7'50 Patented Nov. 27, 1934 SEAT MAT Francis K. Holmested, Charleston, W. Va., as-

signor to Frances Keith Crocker, Charleston,

W. Va.

Application July 12, 1933, Serial No. 680,125

2 Claims.

This invention relates to a mat and the constituent material thereof for use in the initial construction of or for attachment to seats, their backs, arm rests, or elsewhere, for contacting engagement with clothing of an occupant.

The invention is particularly applicable to the back of an automobile or other vehicle seat or even the seat itself, and aims to insure the passage of air through the mat at right angles to its thickness and to give or yield in substantially an oscillatory manner to correspond with and accommodate the motions of the occupant caused by uneven road conditions, so that the mat in use simply through engagement of the occupant therewith will be operated in bellows fashion to cause circulation of air therethrough as an aid in maintaining the person of the occupant relatively cool.

Another object is to provide such a mat or material as will yield with and while engaged by the clothing of the wearer so that there is no relative or independent movement or drag between the clothing and mat and the mat and back to result in wear and tear.

A further aim is to provide a construction according to the invention having a flexible sheet and multitudinous flexible projections extending from a face thereof. Said sheet and projections usually are of rubber and the projections afford passages between them for the free circulation of air, being usually covered for protection of the clothing and also so that motion of the cover will circulate the air. Said projections are sufiiciently stable and of a size to prevent complete collapse thereof when engaged by the wearer to the end that said passages will not be closed by the pressure or weight of the wearer against them.

The more specific objects and advantages will in part be pointed out and otherwise become apparent from a consideration of the description fol lowing taken in connection with the accompanying drawing.

In said drawing:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing the invention in the form of a mat applied to the back of a conventional automobile seat;

Fig. 2 is a plan view, partly broken away to disclose details, of said mat alone;

Fig. 3 is a side edge elevation of said mat, and

Fig. 4 is a detail perspective view of one corner of the mat, on an enlarged scale.

Referring specifically to the drawing wherein like reference characters designate like or corresponding views throughout the difierent views thereof, a prime feature resides in the sheet or material 10. This sheet is a base and is usually molded from elastic rubber and has multitudinous projections 11 of rubber integral with said base. Instead of rubber, I may use an elastic composition for said parts, and in fact any flexible material or even a flexible sheet having the projections attached thereto. Said projections 11 are relatively attenuated sufiiciently stable as not to completely collapse through the weight of the body or its pressure thereagainst, especially when jolted by uneven road conditions, and hence the spaces between the projections form communicating passages for travel of air therethrough to aid in cooling the person of the occupant. While said material 10-11 may be used as a seat covering, back covering, arm rest covering or the like as initially made or repaired or replaced, the single exemplary illustration in connection with a conventional automobile seat 12 having a back 13, is thought to be sufllcient.

In such embodiment, the invention is an attachment for said back 13. It comprises a section of said material 10-11 adapted to be attached to the back in any suitable manner as by means of pairs of rubber or other flexible straps 14 located adjacent opposite side edges and adapted for detachable connection around the back by the engagement of separable fastener sections 15 and 16 carried thereby.

Across the free or forward ends of the projections 11, a sheet 17 is disposed which may be of textile fabric or any other flexible material. Said sheet 1'7 is removably secured in place, for example, by textile cords 18 passed through open-' ings 19 in the sheet and openings 20 in the straps, and thereafter tied into knots 21 at their terminals.

Presuming use of the invention as in Fig. 1 with an occupant resting against the sheet 17,'such sheet will be engaged by and move unitarily with the engaged coat or clothing of the occupant. avoiding drag or relative movement and also relative movement between sheet 10 and the back 13 which results in undue wear and tear. Air freely passes between the sheets 10 and 17 taking various courses from all four sides of the device through the channels or passages defined between the projections 11. Such projections resiliently supportthe back of the occupant, yielding according to the degree of a jolt but in no case completely collapsing or permitting sheets 10 and 17 to contact which would result in closing or stopping the travel of air through such passages. Because said passages cannot be stopped or closed, the oscillatory m ions imparted to the sheet 17 result in a bellows like action which expels and draws in air causing a circulation thereof between the sheets 10 and 17 to cool the person of the occupant.

Obviously the projections 11 may be of any desired size, shape or distance apart and ribs or other equivalents substituted therefor.

The cords 18 permit the sheet 17 to be removed for washing when soiled.

Various changes may be resorted to within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. An article of the character described, comprising an elastic base, multitudinous elastic members projecting from one face of said base and spaced apart to allow air to pass through the article in directions substantially parallel to the plane of the base, attaching straps extending from the base, a. flexible sheet disposed over the free ends of said members, said straps and sheet having holes therethrough, and fastening elements engaging said holes and detachably securing the sheet to the straps.

2. An article of the class described comprising a base section having a-flexible base, multitudinous attenuated relatively stable, elastic members projecting from one face of said base and spaced apart to allow air to pass substantially unrestricted through the article in directions parallel to the plane of the base, the ends of said members remote to said base being free of each other and substantially in the same plane, a cover removably disposed against the said ends of said members, attaching means extending from the base, attaching means extending from the cover and attached to the first mentioned attaching means, one of said attaching means enabling the article to be secured in operative position.

FRANCIS K. HOLMESTED. 

